Relations between India and South Africa were based on mutual disregard for much of the 20th century. It was ironic, then, that India was instrumental in South Africa's return to international cricket.

India and South Africa had not played each other before the latter were banned from international cricket. Like other non-white countries, India was strongly opposed to the apartheid regime. In 1974, the Indian Davis Cup team refused to play the finals of the tournament because their opponents were the South Africans. A big factor in the chilly relations between the two countries was the status of thousands of Indian immigrants in South Africa, who were denied citizenship till as late as 1960 and had restrictions placed on their ownership of land; in fact, those who owned property in what later came to be classified as whites-only neighbourhoods had to sell them to the government at a fraction of what it was worth.

The brutal apartheid regime, which was in place for nearly half a century starting 1948, led to South Africa's sporting isolation from the 1950s onward. International cricket tours to the country ended in 1970, and the revival had to wait over 20 years, when the release of Nelson Mandela after 27 years of incarceration opened up the possibility of South Africa regaining international sporting recognition.

A pioneering figure in getting the country back in the fold was Dr Ali Bacher, the former captain turned administrator, who had been in the news for the wrong reasons in the 1980s for organising rebel tours to South Africa by teams from West Indies, England, Sri Lanka and Australia. Cricket in South Africa was divided along racial lines during the apartheid years, with two boards, the South African Cricket Union (SACU), which Bacher was a part of, and the multi-racial South African Cricket Board (SACB). The unification of the board was the start of the process.

With the help of the African National Congress (ANC), the two boards formed a unified front and merged to form the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) in June 1991. The unification was crucial to the cause of re-admission, as the ICC and its member boards had to be convinced that cricket in South Africa had turned over a new leaf.

The other central figure in the effort was Steve Tshwete, a high-ranking ANC official who, like Mandela, had served time at Robben Island. He was known to be an expert facilitator who had earned the nickname "Mr Fixit" for his skill at bringing adversaries together.

In March 1991, Bacher and Tshwete travelled to Harare to meet the high commissioners of India and Pakistan. In May they headed to London to meet with the ICC to push for full-member status and a quick return to international cricket. David Richards, then the CEO of the Australian Cricket Board, advised Bacher to contact Jagmohan Dalmiya, the secretary of the BCCI for support. Bacher did, and journalist and author Mihir Bose quotes Dalmiya's first reaction to that call: "I didn't know you could ring India from South Africa."

It didn't take long for Bacher to get his point across, and the two hit it off. Between April and July there were about 40 phone calls between the two, by Bacher's estimation. But South Africa's readmission still needed the approval of the BCCI president, the late Madhavrao Scindia, as well as the support of West Indies and Pakistan, who were against white South Africa. Bacher knew that the ANC's support would prove vital.

The ICC scheduled a meeting in London in July, which Dalmiya and Bacher attended. Dalmiya approached the Indian High Commissioner in London, LM Singhvi, to enlist his support. Things got off to a rocky start when, according to the cricket historian Boria Majumdar, "Singhvi threw a fit and told Dalmiya this was a diplomatic decision which only had to be taken by the Indian government and nobody else".

Singhvi came around eventually and on the eve of the meeting placed a call to Scindia with Dalmiya by his side to explain why it made sense, in the context of the anti-apartheid movement, for India to support South Africa. The next day Scindia took special permission from the Indian government and wired it back to Singhvi, giving Dalmiya the green light.

Bose writes of Tshwete's role in the affair. Tshwete, who was then busy with the first-ever ANC Congress in Durban, headed to London, where Bacher had been trying all day to get in touch with Scindia in New Delhi. When he did get through, Bacher briefed Scindia for 20 minutes on the background of the proposal before handing the phone to Tshwete. A tense Bacher described it as the most "nerve-wracking 15 minutes he had spent". It culminated in Tshwete putting his arm around Bacher and saying, "Don't worry about it. It has been done." Half an hour later Dalmiya called and said, "I have just had a call from Scindia. Everything's okay. He's instructed me to propose South Africa."

The India vote was a huge breakthrough and South Africa were officially readmitted. "In fact, Sir Clyde Walcott, the former West Indies batsman, wasn't even in favour of tabling it in the ICC meeting, but the Indians championed it and forced it in," says Majumdar. Such was India's influence that Pakistan fell in line and West Indies eventually seconded the vote after India pushed for it. According to Majumdar, there was a sense of urgency to promote the new South Africa through cricket and not any other sport. Had it not been for the ICC meeting in July, South Africa would probably have made their official re-entry into international sport through the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, missing the cricket World Cup in 1992.

The ICC had scheduled a meeting in Sharjah in October to discuss Sharjah's participation in the 1992 World Cup. The hosts, Australia, were keen on having South Africa play. And though at the annual general meeting of the BCCI, Dalmiya had been ousted and replaced by Scindia's candidate, Scindia himself attended the Sharjah meeting and endorsed South Africa for the World Cup.

Bacher and other top UCBSA officials, Krish Mackerdhuj and Geoff Dakin, headed to India shortly after. It turned out to be perfect timing. The BCCI was in a predicament as a home series against Pakistan had been cancelled, and they were keen to have South Africa send a team to play an ODI series as soon as possible. Events had come full circle too soon for Bacher, for whom it seemed an overwhelming prospect. He was sold on the idea only after he was summoned to meet the chief minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu. "Basu, an unreconstructed Stalinist, came in, took one look at Bacher and said, 'I want you to play cricket in Calcutta next week,'" Bose writes. The gesture swept Bacher off his feet.

It was fulfillment of a deep-seated desire of Bacher's. The night of South Africa's readmission, he had hosted a dinner at London's Westbury Hotel where Sunil Gavaskar was one of the guests. Bacher speculated on who South Africa's first opponents would possibly be and insisted it be India or another non-white country. "We have never played them. After 102 years of playing international cricket, the new South Africa has to start with them," Bacher had said.

Within 24 hours of the November meeting, the tour was underway. The BCCI overcame logistical issues to arrange a three-ODI series, in Calcutta (Dalmiya's stronghold), Gwalior (Scindia's hometown) and New Delhi. Though Dalmiya was out of power in the BCCI, he was still powerful in Calcutta cricket, so securing a match for Eden Gardens wasn't a problem. A predominantly white South African team was put together, with Clive Rice as captain. For South Africa it was a way of repaying India for their support in having them readmitted.

Bacher returned to South Africa and quickly got down to work, arranging for a team sponsor (Panasonic) and a television deal to broadcast the matches. He also had to arrange for a chartered flight to take the team, officials, wives, media and supporters to India. On November 7 the tour party assembled at Jan Smuts Airport in Johannesburg for the historic flight. No South African aircraft had flown into Indian airspace before. One of the journalists on board described the aircraft as "a clapped-out old Boeing 707 with no markings. The seats were decrepit, it was uncomfortable, but Trevor Quirk [the commentator], had a couple of crates of beer, so a big group of us smoked and drank all the way."

Their reception in Calcutta surpassed all expectations. Upon landing, some of the South Africans mistook the large gathering of people near the airport for protesters, but they had actually gathered to welcome the team. Children waved flags, flower petals were showered over the players, and the 15-mile journey took a few hours. They were the toast of the city and the crowning moment was their meeting with Mother Teresa the next day.

The emotions caught up with the tourists when they took guard for the first match at Eden Gardens on November 10. The ground was packed to capacity. India won the low-scoring game by three wickets, and sealed the series with another win in Gwalior but lost the third in Delhi.

South Africa finally had a taste of international cricket again. Rice summed it up perfectly: "I know how Neil Armstrong felt when he stood on the moon."

Is there an incident from the past you would like to know more about? Email rewind@cricinfo.com with your comments and suggestions.

India has played key roles in certain major developments in Cricket history. Two that stand out are: SA's return to international cricket and Bangladesh's entry into test cricket. Very few fans from these two countries ever express a word of thanks though.

Surfer don't really want to start a fight for nothing but since you mentioned can't really ignore it either so I'll just drop my 2 cents. What exactly is your version of thanks? Please elaborate for me. Would you like us to say thank to BCCI everyday because they got us the test status? Would you like BD fans to ignore comments that seem offensive to our team only because BCCI got us the test status? Would you like BD fans to stop saying how BD is yet to tour India? Open poll thread here and ask BC members weather they agree or not if BCCI was one of the biggest reason we got our test status or not? And those results will speak for themselves. You make it sound as if BD fans should be in debt to India/BCCI forever and should never talk trash on them?

Now don't come and start labeling me as an India basher because of what I said but please explain to me what do you mean by 'express a word of thanks'? And how long must this thanks go on for?Posted via BC Mobile Edition (iPhone)

Surfer, CSA and its earlier avatars have always stood steadfast with India in crisis situations and vice versa, whether it was the mickey arthur incident or the recent election of ICC vice president.
BCB too, has always voted with BCCI and fellow asian boards.

so we had support where it mattered. the fans after all are easily swayed by propaganda articles, whether or not they are true. let's not forget that an australian owns a large part of the world media and is able to dictate terms and set trends in sports reporting for most of the cricket playing nations.

Neel (and a part of my post is in reply to bangladesh_sy), if you read my post, you will realize that my complaint was not against the boards but the fans. I agree with you that both boards have been very nice with BCCI. I would not want them to cooperate with BCCI over everything just because we helped them once. Cooperation should be on mutual good will and more importantly on the merit of the cause. So if someday The Bangladeshi or the South Africal boards do go against BCCI on a matter of opinion in the larger interest of the game, I would not blame them and neither will I claim that they should should surrender their respective loyalties to India forever because of that one favor.

My problem is with the fans. There are good things that BCCI has done and then BCCI has not met certain expectations of the fans. When the fans complain about BCCI not inviting them for test series, they forget that BCCI is under no obligation whatsoever to do that. Basically their stance is : Okay, so you did us something good, but since you didnt do us more good, we hate you. Makes no sense to me. So what has India done in cricketing terms to earn the hatred from the Bangladeshi fans? India has not invited them for a series which could be disappointing for them at best, but is that really reason enough for the hatred? Does this disappointment outweigh the goods India has done for them in the past? I am not asking for an eternity of gratitude, but I am trying to evaluate the hatred we often witness and trying to find the source and in that I still miss where India had ended up hurting or damaging Bangladeshi cricket. Everything considered, I find that the goods India have done far outweigh whatever other expectations India has not met. So the hatred still bewilders me.

On March 17 ,1992, after South Africa qualified for the semifinal of the 1992 WC, between the last league match and the semifinal on March 22, South Africa went through a whites only referendum to decide whether de Klerk government should go ahead with the anti-apartheid measures (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_A...ferendum,_1992)

It was reported at the time in our local media that if the referendum failed, Pakistan or West Indies may refuse to play South Africa if they had to face them in the semifinals or the finals. 68% of the white population voted to end the apartheid. It is possible that some of them were swayed by the South Africa's immediate fate in the world cup and likely return to cricketing wilderness that could have resulted from a "no" vote.

Originally Posted by Surfer
India has played key roles in certain major developments in Cricket history. Two that stand out are: SA's return to international cricket and Bangladesh's entry into test cricket. Very few fans from these two countries ever express a word of thanks though.

Yeah India's fans need to thank England and Australia for granting their test status back in 1950s. What a joke comment Surfer. We got approval of other 8 test nations too, it was not just India. Shame on you for thinking this way.

there is a very amusing incident from his life that might be instructive to us.
once, Vidyasagar, already a very famous personality by then, was visiting some small town. He was received by a coterie of noted personalities from the town one of whom remarked that so-and-so from the town was running a raging villification campaign against him.
Vidyasagar coolly replied, "Why ? I don't remember I've ever done anything good for that person"

the bottomline is, people can forgive you for being bad to them but they can never forgive you for being good to them.

Originally Posted by Surfer
Neel (and a part of my post is in reply to bangladesh_sy), if you read my post, you will realize that my complaint was not against the boards but the fans. I agree with you that both boards have been very nice with BCCI. I would not want them to cooperate with BCCI over everything just because we helped them once. Cooperation should be on mutual good will and more importantly on the merit of the cause. So if someday The Bangladeshi or the South Africal boards do go against BCCI on a matter of opinion in the larger interest of the game, I would not blame them and neither will I claim that they should should surrender their respective loyalties to India forever because of that one favor.

My problem is with the fans. There are good things that BCCI has done and then BCCI has not met certain expectations of the fans. When the fans complain about BCCI not inviting them for test series, they forget that BCCI is under no obligation whatsoever to do that. Basically their stance is : Okay, so you did us something good, but since you didnt do us more good, we hate you. Makes no sense to me. So what has India done in cricketing terms to earn the hatred from the Bangladeshi fans? India has not invited them for a series which could be disappointing for them at best, but is that really reason enough for the hatred? Does this disappointment outweigh the goods India has done for them in the past? I am not asking for an eternity of gratitude, but I am trying to evaluate the hatred we often witness and trying to find the source and in that I still miss where India had ended up hurting or damaging Bangladeshi cricket. Everything considered, I find that the goods India have done far outweigh whatever other expectations India has not met. So the hatred still bewilders me.

it may be a valid argument to suggest that BCCI has never done anything harmful to the interests of the game or of bangladeshi cricket. but it would be equally valid then to state that no bangladeshi fan "hates" the BCCI.